Chair



nivTTn sTaTns PATENT oTTTcn.

JAMES LEERNALD,y OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

CHAIR.

Speccation forming part of .Letters Patent No. 15,405, dated July 22,1856; Reissued October 12, 1858, No. 611.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES FERNALD, of Boston, in the county of Suffolkand State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful or ImprovedSchool-Chair; and I do hereby declare that the accompanyingspecification and annexed drawings fully describe and illustrate thesaid invention.

The objects I have had in View in my experiments, resulting in theinvention of the said chair, have been to produce an article which shallbe beyond any chair I know of conducive to the health and easy positionof any person who may be obliged to occupy the same for long periods, atsuccessive intervals, and at the same time shall be an article which canbe manufactured in quantities at prices which (beyond their worth forcomfort) shall commend them for use in the school room, and in allpublic halls.

Figure 1 of the drawings represents a side elevation of my improvedchair. Fig. 2 is a front view and Fig. 3 a central vertical crosssection of it.

In the drawings above mentioned A denotes the pedestal or stand on whichthe seat B of the chair is to be properly fastened. Said pedestal ismade of iron or other suitable material, and is intended to be screweddown upon `the floor of the room, where the chair is to be placed. Theseat B is to be made any convenient form, either round, oblong, orsquare, and of a proper thickness, and is to have fastened to it andrising from its back an inclined metal spring C, extending from theseat, as seen in Figs. 2 and 3. Upon the front of this spring, and at asuitable distance above the seat, the back D of the chair is applied.This back D is constructed from a flat piece of wood, turned into anoval shape, and with its front face convex, as seen particularly in Fig.3. This back piece is to be fastened to the spring by a screw m passingthrough the spring into the center of the back piece, said spring havingseveral holes or a slot made through it, so that the back rest can beelevated or depressed to any convenient height above the seat. Byloosening the screw the rest can be turned so as to take the positionrepresented by dotted lines in Fig. 2, or it can be rotated any lesspart of a circle, so as to be presented in any inclined position, ifrequired. The lower end of the spring is bent and extends under the seatB, to which it is properly fastened. This constitutes the Its advantagesabove others are many.

The comfort of our children during the many and tedious'hours they haveto spend in the school room is an object which can be perhaps betterpromoted by the use of seats upon which they can study in an easyposture than by any other means, while the production of a goodcomfortable and simple lecture or hall chair is a hardly lessdesideratum. The most of such seats or chairs in common use are not onlyvery painful to sit in for great lengths of time, but oftentimesproductive of serious injury and contortions of the spine and back. Thebacks of such chairs are made with sharp protuberances, square corners,and stiff unyielding backs, thereby inducing the injuries spoken of,while many school chairs have no backs at all, thus leaving the spineentirely unsupported and producing great weariness to the occupants. Nowthe changes or alterations I have effected in the general form of suchchairs, though very simple, have produced a much better, easier andcheaper chair than any I have ever seen. The convex back, being made soas to be adjusted at the proper height, is caused to fit against thespine, just in the position where support is most wanted; in suchInanner as shall leave the shoulders free to be thrown back and thechest brought forward, while by making it in an oval form and to berotated as described support may be obtained across the back, 'or forthe shoulders when necessary. The spring C is made of such flexibilityas will allow the rest piece to yield by gentle pressure of the backagainst it.

As will be seen from the description, the whole chair (excepting thefastening screws) is composed of but four pieces, the pedestal, theseat, the spring and the back, so that the seat can be manufactured atlittle cost, and being put together forms a very neat and symmetricalchair, not at all liable to whole construction of my improved chair.`

get out of order and free from projecting my signature this twenty irstday of Februcorners and the other evils above alluded to. ary, A. D.1856.

I olaim The oval back rest D, or its equivalent, JAMES FERNALD 5 whenmade to rotate in manner, and for Witnesses:

the purpose essentially as described. FRANCIS B. HAYES, In testimonywhereof I have hereto set FRANCIS GOULD.

[FIRST PRINTED 1912.]

